Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
New York Mets catcher James McCann is continuing to draw trade interest with the St. Louis Cardinals keeping tabs on the veteran, per Robert Murray, an MLB Insider for FanSided.
McCann is widely known to be on the trade block and, according to Murray, he could be an option for the Cardinals who are in the market for a catcher in the wake of franchise great Yadier Molina retiring this offseason. It was reported by MLB Network’s Mark Feinsand on Sunday that the Cardinals were one of the teams considering a trade for Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy. Murphy would be one of the best catching options available this winter.
However, per Murray, the Cardinals could pivot to McCann if they miss out on Murphy and indeed on other catcher targets in both the trade and free agency market. McCann is owed $24 million over the next two years and the Mets could shed some of that salary in any potential trade.
McCann was considered the second best catcher available when he signed a four-year, $40 million contract with the Mets back in 2021. While there were some who would have been preferred to see the front office go after J.T. Realmuto, McCann was seen as a nice consolation prize having slashed a career-high .289/.360/.536 with seven homers and 15 RBI in 2020 for the Chicago White Sox.
With a fielding percentage of .985 and a caught stealing percentage of 33 in 2020, McCann arrived in Queens as a catcher with very good defensive skills behind the plate, as well as being a player who could add some pop to the middle of the lineup. However, the righty has struggled in a Mets uniform and he’s hit just .220/.282/.328 with a combined 13 home runs and 64 RBI in 182 games.
His ugly -0.1 WAR in 2022 sum up McCann’s offensive struggles as a Met and, while he’s largely been solid behind the plate, he’s also struggled with injuries and his contract already looks like a bad one. And, with Tomas Nido having established himself as a dependable catcher and phenom prospect Francisco Álvarez ready to take the majors by storm in 2023, McCann is somewhat expendable.
Again, while Murray noted that McCann is only being viewed as a backup option by the Cardinals at this point and the Mets would need to eat some salary, McCann was linked to the Texas Rangers over the weekend who are also in the market for a catcher and they could look to reunite McCann with Jacob deGrom. It appears as though McCann may be a name to keep an eye on over the coming weeks as the Mets continue to come up with ways they can improve and tweak their roster.
